CHAPTER VII.
THE NEST OF THE GREAT BIRD As the little group of four penetrated into the enclosure which but a few moments before had been guarded all round its perimeter by a small army of determined men, more and more of the Legionaries began to concentrate toward the entrance.
Silently they came, with almost the precision of automata in some complex mechanical process.

All were obeying the Master's will, because obedience was sweet to them; because it spelled adventure, freedom, life.
Now and then one stopped, bent, arose with some added burden taken from a fallen guard.

Not one guard was to be injured in any manner.
Human life was not to be taken.

But nothing in the way of armament was to be left, by way of possible danger to the Legion.

And already the telephone-wires had been effectively cut.
All the approaching Legionaries wore rucksacks, and all were in their respective uniforms, though every man still wore a long coat that concealed it.